A charity litter pick is being organised by a Kenilworth convenience store in the memory of a friend who died from Covid-19 last year.

Staff at St John's Budgens, on Roseland Road, are organising the event on May 9 in the memory of Raj Aggerwal, a close friend of the shop's operations manager Avtar 'Sid' Sidhu.

The litter pick, which will start at 10.30am, is part of a much wider campaign, 'do as Raj would do', which so far has raised over £32,000 in his memory.

The campaign is hoping to raise £100,000 for the Leicester Children's Hospital Appeal, to help build a dedicated children's hospital and to build a wellbeing garden at the Sheffield Northern General Hospital.

Through social media posts the Kenilworth Budgens store has already recruited a large number of volunteers for this Sunday, including residents of Newlands care home.

'Sid' said: "Before he passed away Raj was doing lots of charitable work, and then all of a sudden he was in hospital and then died and it brought it all home really.

"So a year on I am still supporting his wife, Sunita, with a number of charitable things that we have been doing.

"But this isn't just about raising money. It is also in the memory of him, doing stuff in the communities up and down the country, to bring a local community together, in the memory of Raj, to do something good."

The do as Raj would do campaign has grown beyond the midlands. Retailers and individuals across the country have been coming together to keep Raj's memory alive.

For example tonight there is a DJ playing through a Facebook live fundraising event for people to enjoy together from the safety of their own homes.

"It is all about coming together, from whatever walk of life you are from, and what we are doing here this weekend is all part of that."

"In essence the litter pick is a very important part of the overall campaign. It is more about bringing people together. Everybody has been affected in various different ways, and we just wanted to use his name and memory to do a lot of good really."

Anybody wishing to take part this Sunday can simply message the St John's Budgens/Post Office Facebook page to confirm their attendance.

Sid added: "We have had a massive response, people from all different walks of life coming together. Not only will it benefit the local area, and doing something good locally in the memory of my best friend.

"It has been hard with the pandemic, so with this event with everybody socially distanced, we can do what we want to achieve but it is safe for everybody involved."